Lost In Morrowind
by elijof
Summary: One minute she was here, living life. The next there was the explosion. And finally there was being woken up by a grey skinned man with pointy ears, only to be told she was a prisoner being released in Seyda Neen. She knows she has a purpose here, and if she doesn't complete it, she'll never get home. And so it's up to her and the Eternal Champion, to find a way back home...
1. Chapter 1- Seyda Neen

**Chapter One-Seyda Neen**

"We're here-"

"What?"

"I said we're here. Why are you shaking?"

I opened my eyes, trying to comprehend what had happened. I only remembered flashes, snatches from what had happened. One minute I was there, shopping. The next...thrown back burning to the ground in a flash of light and people screaming...

I was confused. I wasn't there anymore. I wasn't even in hospital. And the person I was staring at...didn't seem like a person. Didn't seem _human_. He stared down at me with slanted red eyes that seemed somewhat...concerned. His skin was grey, his face covered in piercings, his ears pointy. I frowned, wondering if I was hallucinating. Or something. There'd been an explosion back at that shopping centre. Didn't people see allsorts when they're were in a coma, or had had a traumatic event, or something?

I realized I was lying on hard ground, on a boat, perhaps. I could hear waves crashing against the ship. The light was dim, candlelit, and all I had covering me was a thin blanket. I was wearing...what looked like...sacks? Sackcloth? I frowned, confused. Why was I wearing sackcloth. Whatever it was was, it was horribly uncomfortable. And itchy.

Where was I?

"Who are you?" I looked at the strange man with grey skin, noticing that he had a huge scar down one side of his face. He folded his arms, leaning against the wall of the small room we were in.

"I'm Jiub. What's your name?"

"Eli." I said quietly, slowly standing up. I felt dizzy, nauseous, the back of my head throbbing, as though something had hit it. I groaned, placing a hand to it. "God, what the hell happened?"

"There was a storm. I'm surprised you didn't wake up."

"Storm?" That didn't seem to make sense. I didn't remember a storm. I'd been indoors, trying to find a replacement IPod charger...

Speaking of...

I tried to check my pockets to find out where it was, to find out where anything I had was. Except the trousers I was wearing didn't _have_ any pockets. I had nothing. No money, no phone...nothing that would give a clue what was going on.

"I don't remember a storm. There was a bomb-"

"Bomb?" He stared at me in confusion, as though he'd never heard of a "bomb". I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, I was at Camden. And there was a bomb-"

"Camden?"

"Yeah, you know, like, in London. It's a shopping centre" I shrugged. "And I'm sure of it, there was a bomb, there was explosions...wait..." I paused, looking around the room quickly, panic building in my chest. "We're in not in London, are we?"

He didn't answer, still staring back in confusion, as though I was making no sense. As though I was babbling.

"Where are we?"

"I heard the guards say we were somewhere in Morrowind. We arrived there five or so minutes ago. We're at some port-"

"Morrowind?" I frowned. I'd heard that name before. Where...I didn't know. I couldn't place it. "And...what exactly are you?"

"I'm a Dunmer."

"A what?!"

"You may have heard us be called "Dark Elves" back in the other Provinces." He voice showed exactly what he thought of being called a "Dark elf". Not much, it seemed. "Have you never seen one of my kind before?"

"Of course not, I've never heard of a Dunmer or Dark elf before...Elves aren't even supposed to exist." Well that confirmed it. I was definitely in some sort of Coma. Or something. Elves _didn't_ exist.

There was a sound that sounded like a key being turned in a look, and the door opened. A tall man glanced at the room, looking at both me and the "Elf", one hand on his sword, seeming as he was a solider of some kind. "You there. Breton."

"What?" I frowned. "Breton...what the..."

"You come with us. This is where you get off. And you." He pointed at Jiub. "You stay here. We'll be back for you."

Jiub shrugged, and sat down on the ground, on the blanket that I had supposedly been sleeping under. I glanced at him.

"Goodbye, Eli." He said with a slight smile. "I hope things fare better for you in the future."

"I said come with me!"

I sighed, and hurried after the solider. He led me through the ship, past hammocks, crates, wooden tables pushed to side, and indicated that I was to climb up a ladder onto the deck.

And it was then that I first saw the land that was supposedly Morrowind.

I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

Straight ahead was a town, built on the brown coast of what was "Morrowind". Visible on the water, hovering, it seemed, was a huge brown shelled creature with what seemed to be tentacles, barely touching the water, it seemed.

"They're waiting for you ahead." I turned to see another solider staring at me in irritation. "They'll sort your release out."

"My...release?"

"Yes. Your release. From prison." He rolled his eyes.

"Right...yeah. What exactly is _that_?" I pointed at the huge brown tentacle thing. He didn't look. He didn't need to, it seemed.

"It's a Slit Strider. Never seen them anywhere but Morrowind. It's an odd place, here." He shrugged. "Go on up ahead. Don't keep them waiting at customs."

I left the ship in a state of confusion. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know where I was or what had happened. I didn't even know if I was dead, alive, or dreaming, or if I'd simply gone mad. And I really didn't know why I had ended up in prison, supposedly, and I'd never heard of this place called ..._Morrowind_.

I entered the customs office, coming face to face with an old man in a long brown robe, who looked at me up and down. "Ah yes, we've been expecting you."

"You...have?"

"We just need to sort a few things out, fill in a few forms." He rummaged through papers on her desk, finally fully out a piece of parchment with curly writing on it. "So you're...Eli. That's what it says here. Eli."

"Yes, I'm Eli, what's-"

"You're being released from Imperial custody." He said quickly, still looking down at the parchment. "Parentage...unknown-"

"How the heck do you know that?"

"...Presumed place of Birth, High Rock. You're a Breton."

"I'm a _what_?!"

"Please check this information is current before I stamp these papers."

"But it's not correct! I wasn't born in High Rock, wherever the hell that is, and I'm not a Breton!"

"Then where exactly _were_ you born?"

He looked down at me with narrowed, suspicious brown eyes, and I stared back up, annoyed. "Oxford!" I said in exasperation. "Not bloody High Rock!"

"Oxford? And where exactly is that?" He frowned, confused. "Are you from Akavir?" All of a sudden he seemed suspicious.

"Aka-what? No, it's in Britain!" He still seemed confused, and I was getting frustrated. I wanted to go home. I wanted it...over. I wanted my mind or _them_ to quit playing games with me and let me wake up and go back to safe and sound that was home. "Britain, it's an Island, north of France...Europe! England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Oh come on, why the heck haven't you heard of them!"

"I...look, unless you want to end up on the first boat back to Cyrodil for being uncooperative, I suggest you stop speaking nonsense, and tell us where exactly you were born."

"But I told you!" I gritted my teeth in frustration and annoyance. "I was born in_ Britain_. I've never heard of High Rock or Morrowind or Akavir or Cyrodil. I don't know where I am and I don't know why everyone is wearing...funny clothes! And I don't know why the heck I'm here. And I just wish my mind would snap out of this...whatever it is and that I could...wake up!"

My papers were stamped anyway, marking me as Eli, the Breton, born in High Rock. I walked through the building, handing them over to another soilder, somebody called "Sellus Gravius".

"Who I am and what I am is hardly important." He said briskly, looking at the papers I'd been given. "I'm here to welcome you to Morrowind."

"I don't know why I'm here."

"You've been released by the Emperor himself. No reason, but it's not my place to know that." He handed me my papers back, and turned round to face his desk, picking up and envelope, and holding it out. "It says here you are to deliver this to a man called Caius Cosades, in Balmora."

"Who?" I blinked, taking the envelope and looking at it. "And...where's Balmora?"

"Balmora is to the North. I suggest you take a slit strider there. You'll only have to deal with cliff racers and bandits if you take the road there, but I guess it is up to you." He shrugged. "At any rate, the Empire provides you with sixty gold. I suggest you head to the Tradehouse here. This is Seyda Neen. Don't want to be caught alone in Tamriel without a weapon, after all. Especially a lone woman like you."

The names were still unfamiliar, but I nodded and took the coins anyway. Confused and unsure about the world, I let myself be led out of the building, the door shut behind me, leaving me all alone in a world I knew nothing about, the town of "Seyda Neen", with instructions to find someone called "Caius Cosades" in a place called "Balmora"...and I had no idea how to get there, and knew nothing of this world.

"We saw you come in!"

I turned, surprised, to the source of the voice. A small, blonde, excited man with pointy ears, running towards me and pulling me into a tight hug. "I'm Fargoth...did you see my..."

"Hey, leave her alone, Wood Elf." "Fargoth" was pulled off me, and put to aside by another, a person who seemed relatively normal and human, his short brown hair falling slightly to his shoulders. "She just got here, give her some space."

"I don't have your ring." I said quietly, looking around. More people, pointy eared people, human looking people, people with Grey skin, and a man with...webbed feet and scales...

"He's an Argonian." The man explained quietly. "That's Fine-Mouth. He's a nice person...well, nicer than a lot of people here, and he has less reason to be."

"Argonian." I muttered quietly, the word sounding familiar. "Who are you? The Wizard of Oz, by any chance?"

"I know how you feel. You think this is all a dream, don't you? You don't understand what you're doing here. You think...you've gone mad. This world confuses you, scares you...and it should. It's dangerous." He smiled reassuringly. "I'm not the Wizard of Oz. I'm not that great at magic. I'm like you. I'm from the other place. We were brought here for a reason. And my name...my name is Ben."

"The Other-"

"Planet Earth...I'm guessing by your ancient you to are from Britain. Somewhat a coincidence." He shrugged. "We can get home, both of us. You can take us both there."

"How? How do I?"

"I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you what I know. But you must be hungry. And thirsty."

"Yeah..."

"There isn't exactly a tavern here, but Arrile does food. I can get you something there. And then...you need to get to Balmora, yes?"

"How do you-"

"I'm in the Emperors court, I'm one of his advisors." Ben shrugged. "But this...this they wouldn't tell me about. I had to...well, I _knew_. Sort of. I'll explain...later, perhaps."

"I don't know how to get to Balmora."

"I do." Ben said quietly. "Which is good, because you won't be able to read any of the signposts. No-one seems to be able to."

"Sellus Gravius told me to take a Slit strider."

"I'd rather walk, if you don't mind." Ben said quietly. "It's not far, and what I have to say I'd rather say without others overhearing."

"What the-"

I heard a scream from above, and looked up to see a man, rapidly approaching the ground, and seemingly, falling from the sky. He landed hard with a slight grunt, the force of the landing killing him.

I stared, shocked.

"I remember him."

"You...know him?" I glanced at Ben, frowning, confused. "Who is he?"

"No...I remembered him from...somewhere. He...He's a wizard. He was doing some experiment with flying, I think..." Ben shrugged.

"Shouldn't we tell someone?"

"And waste time? No, if we tell them, we'll become the suspects. And you, my friend, have only just been released from prison."

"Hey! I am _not_ your friend!"

"Then what exactly are we? Accomplices?" He seemed amused by my outburst, rather than hurt. "It hardly matters. We need to get to Balmora. I want to go home, you want to home. I suggest we do everything to make that a possibility."

"Why don't you tell me exactly _who_ you are, and _what's _going on?" I glared at him, arms folded. "Because I'm really confused here, and in case you haven't noticed, today is _not_ the best day. I don't know where I am, _what_ half the people here are, and I don't know _what _they want from me or who this Caius Cosades is or why I was apparently in prison. One minute I was trying to buy a replacement IPod wire and the next I was on that boat with some grey faced man telling me we were somewhere called "Morrowind!" And I have no idea, what is going on, and you seem to be claiming you know _whats_ going on here, and I'm interested to hear it. No-ones around now, so why don't you just tell me?"

He sighed, and took another step forward, indicating for me to continue walking. "This might take a while. It's a bit of a long story."

"Then I suggest you get started."


	2. Chapter 2 - Joining The Order

**Chapter Two-Joining the Order**

I didn't understand this world at all...or the people in it. After running into a woman on the road to Balmora who had been robbed by a bandit...and then had decided she was in love with the bandit and had wanted us to find him, we had ended up spending the night in a tavern in a place called Pelagiad. My feet hurt. I wasn't used to walking so far, and I was wishing I had ridden on the Slit Slider, or that my mind had somehow managed to add cars to this world.

"Are woman in this world generally thick, or was it just that one?"

"Just that one." Ben shrugged, paying a few gold coins-a currency called "Drakes"-for two bowls of some kind of soup, and two rooms for the night. I'd been insistent. As alien as this world seemed to me, I was not sharing with "Ben", or pretending to be his wife, whatever this worlds view of women was. Thankfully, it seemed less restrictive than the view of woman the medieval world at home had had.

"Well thank god for that." I muttered quietly, accepting the wooden bowl, and sitting down.

"It was a _woman_ who helped me through Tamriel when I was hunting the pieces of the staff...for ten years. God...that was a long ten years."

"Was the key to your prison cell _really_ left inside the cell?"

He laughed slightly, nodding. "Maybe Ria put it there, maybe not. Or maybe Tharn was just incompetent. I don't know. Whatever it was...they messed up big time. If I wanted to imprison someone, I would _not_ leave the key in the cell so the prisoner can open the door and sneak out."

"Why were you in Prison?"

"I was a threat to Tharn. I was left there to die, apparently." He shrugged. "I just had a strange dream, some woman floating in the sky telling me I needed to escape, and then I woke up...in the Imperial Prison, in Tamriel, without a clue as to what I was doing there. Or what had happened. I...I died on Earth...back home..."

"This isn't Earth?"

"Have you ever heard of a country called "Morrowind"?"

"No...So what planet are we on? This isn't Mars is it?"

Ben smiled slightly. "I can see why you may think that. Morrowind seems alien. The rest of Tamriel isn't so much like this. Cyrodil is more like home than this place. But no...they call this planet Nirn."

"Nirn."I repeated quietly. "And why do you think I'm the one who gets home..."

"Because...have you ever played Skyrim?"

"Skyrim?" I stared at him, surprised. "My brother played it a lot, I played it a bit...please tell me we are not stuck inside a video game."

He didn't answer. I frowned, slightly annoyed.

"We are stuck inside a video game, aren't we?"

"Balmora." Ben declared as we crossed a bridge, approaching a yellow stoned town with flat roofed houses. We past another of those lizards, this was sitting against the wall, a wooden bowl with a few coins in ahead of us. She muttered something in a language I didn't recognise.

"Those Argonians that are free of slavery don't have it easy here in Morrowind. The Dark Elves don't believe they are people. A lot of them are homeless, paupers, beggars..."

"What exactly were the people who made this game _thinking_ when they made the lizards slaves?"

"_Argonians_. Not Lizards. _Argonians_." He corrected. "And I doubt Bethesda knows that this place really exists. Or that we can go there."

"Why exactly are you here, anyway?" We entered the town, and stopped, me turning to face him, arms folded, eyes raised. "See, I don't know quite know why I'm here. You said you'd tell me everything, but all you've given me is...some story about how we must find Caius Cosades and how you were some Eternal Champion that saved the world..."

"I'm dying, like you. And I fear my end is coming. You see...you hear voices from the real world, sort of...messages." He looked away. "I know you're dying to, Eli. You will hear the messages. And my messages? They're telling me that my time is running out. You may be my last hope of living, and returning. Because I don't know what happens to us here if we die back home. Otherwise, I'd stay here. Without a doubt."

"You'd stay here?" I was surprised. Why? Why stay in a world that seemed...backwards, with elves that kept lizard people as slaves? Why stay in a world without heating, or cars, or electricity. A world where everything made sense? Instead of staying in this...Morrowind.

"I can't explain. Maybe one day you'll understand why I'd chose this world over home. I'd rather be alive and on Earth though, than on Nirn and dead." Ben said quietly. "How I know you're from home...I know that you're the hero of this...video game..."

"You are joking me. So not only am I trapped in a video game, I'm also the godamned hero. Do I have to kill Dragons?"

"There isn't any dragons in Morrowind!"

"Then what then? Am I fighting a...flying jellyfish or something?"

"I don't know because I didn't manage to finish it!" Ben snapped back in frustration. "I know where we can find Caius though. Have you got that note they gave you?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "So where is? The sooner this is over with, the better. I want to go home, Ben. Even if you don't."

"And I'm on your side. I can help you get home." He promised. "I'll show you where Caius is. And I'm warning you...don't judge by appearance."

The overwhelming smell of something sweet and sickly filled the house of an old, topless man who stared grumpily at us as we entered his small, one roomed house. I saw a silvery power scattered over a table by a small bed, and what looked like a...some sort of smoking pipe? He'd tried to hide it. It was pushed under his bed, and hidden by a book.

"Eli has something for you."

"I don't know what you could possibly want. I'm just an old man with a skooma problem."

"We both know that isn't true." Ben folded his arms and glanced at me, indicating for me to give the package to Caius. He frowned, and took it, breaking the seal of the scrolls and opening it.

"So...it says here you're Eli, a Breton."

"I'm not a..." I gritted my teeth, deciding I'd already spent enough time arguing with the man back at customs over me not being a "Breton", and doubted that Caius had heard of "Britain" or "Oxford". So instead, I answered "Yes. My name is Eli."

"Good." He folded the scroll up, laying it on the table. "It says here you're to join the blades."

"The what?!"

"Blades. The Emperors spies. We're an order, a secret one. You have released from the Imperial Prison to join the Order of the Blades, and serve in Morrowind." He walked over to a chest, opening it, and pulling out some coins. "I need a few days to prepare for things...and you...you don't look...what expierence do you have fighting?"

"Fighting? None!"

"I can teach her." Ben shrugged. "I'm the Eternal Champion, Caius. I can show her how to use a sword."

"Do it." Caius nodded. "She's no use to me if she's going to be killed within the first five seconds of a mission."

"Kill...hey, I didn't sign up to join the blades!"

"And unless you want to end up back in the Imperial Prison, I suggest you do as the Emperor tells you." Caius handed me the coins, looking at me, sternly. "Can you do that, Eli? Can you follow my orders?"

I sighed, hating this, hating this world, before slowly nodding. "Fine. I'll let Ben teach me how to use a sword."

"Good. As I said, I need a few days to prepare things. That's 200 Drakes there. It'll be enough to get you shelter and food for the day. And perhaps work on your cover. Join one of the guilds here in Balmora. Or join the Imperial Cult at Moonlith Fort. Come back to me when you're ready. And I want to see you armed and ready to fight. Because by Oblivion, Eli, you may well need to be able to."

I gulped. I wasn't liking this at all.

"Can you do that?"

"Yes." I answered through gritted teeth. "Yes. I can do that. But I don't like it."

"You don't have to. You're a blade now. You _obey_. Now get out of my sight...and you. Eternal Champion. It's good to see you."

"You too, Spymaster."

We left the house, a grey skinned Dark Elf starring at us with narrowed red eyes as we did so, muttering something under his breathe. Ben sighed.

"Did I forget to mention? The Dunmer don't like foreigners in Morrowind. And we're foreigners. They call us "Outlanders""

"Oh brilliant." I muttered.

"It's not so bad here in Balmora. Balmora is a house Hlaalu town...They're friendly with the Imperials. There's a Nord on the council. Hlaalu towns are generally more tolerant of outlanders than the others."

"Let me guess. If I don't join these "Blades" I don't ever get to go home."

"And most likely? You will eventually die over there. We have a shot at getting home, and this is it. I suggest you take it."

"How do you know him, anyway? Friend of yours?"

"He knows of me. Most of Tamriel do. I'm famous, remember? I saved the world." He laughed slowly. "And I know who he is because I played this game. He's a Spymaster of the Order of the blades. Only thing is...I couldn't complete the game. I always died on the first mission he gave me."

"Oh well that's just wonderful."


End file.
